we all knew my dad is, and has always been, a flexible person. so i wasn't quite surprised when he said we would not stay a night at hvammstangi, but spend it at jokulsarlon on the last day instead.

yeah, that meant we would drive all the way to grundarfjordur today, and two days later an eight-hour drive across half of the circle to jokulsarlon.

it sounded exciting to me. something unexpected, something fun.


it was a fine morning as we left akureyri and headed towards the west, though we were warned about the storm hitting the west side of the country today. we were lucky enough to spot a number of icelandic horses in such a beautiful setting. with  river flowing nearby and range of mountains as a background. their crests and tails dancing against the gentle wind.


things started to stirred up once we left hvitserkur, the weird elephant-shape rock in the sea. it started to snow and the wind became stronger and stronger. our navigator was being ridiculous (again) by telling us to drive all the way down to the southern tip of west iceland, when our destination was at the northern part of the tip. if we were to follow the navigator, we would have to drive a hundred kilometres more than the sensible route.

yes, the sensible route. we had probably forgot how the road we chose to take to egilsstadir was like. so we believes our instinct instead of the navigator and turned on the shorter route just to face an unpaved road. every time we made a turn, we hoped to see anything other than (yet) another unpaved road. it went on for slightly more than a hundred kilometres, until the road to stykkisholmur. the wind never got tired of hitting our car, it became more energetic as we were driving along the coast. my dad almost lost the control of the car twice because of the wind and icy gravel road. we could see no more than 2 metres in front of us. it was scary and yet exciting to witness the nature so angry as the wind was that day.

at last, we were convinced that the navigator knew its job the best.

and finally, we arrived at grundarfjordur. the wind was still attacking us and it was hard to even get out of the car. but we managed to do it twice and then spent the rest of the afternoon in out apartment.


we stayed at grundarfjordur hostel and apartment (yha) and it was worth the money. with fully-equipped kitchen and accommodated up to four people. the apartment was nice and clean, each wall painted with bright colour. it was at the northern tip of the town, and kirkjufell was visible through our windows. (ps. room no. 4!)


kirkjufell/foss (fell—the mountain, foss—the waterfall) was 5-minute drive away, and we went there twice even more often than that. it was the most beautiful (and scary, the wind almost blew my dad away!) on the last morning before we left because it had been snowing all night long ad parts of the stream was frozen.


we also drive down the south on road no. 54 to hellnar, where there was this lava arch. we couldn't stay there so long because one minute it was sunny and the next it started to snow. however, the drive was quite a pleasant one, with pretty lava fields and lovely little turf house under the grass.


during our drive back on the road no. 54, the sky was blue the road was covered in snow and every once in a long while we would see any other cars on the route. and that was when i named this trip the road less travelled.

there were several reasons we were dying to get out of lake myvatn and head to akureyri.

first of all, the weather was so bad and the wind was still blowing aggressively, which wasn't quite an ideal weather to stay outside in the beautiful law and all.

secondly, the lake was so out of town (or our accommodation, to be specific), and we hadn't  been to any a whole week. so akureyri was a great treat for us (or at least for my mum and me)


the sun shined the whole day, but that didn't mean any less wind, or even snow! the snow was falling as we arrived at godafoss. with the weather condition, i guessed there was the only road accessible to the fall, the one after we crossed the river. we would have been able to see the fall with a more open angle if we were on the other side of it. but still, this was one of my favourite falls, especially in snow. the water was sapphire blue and it looked so spectacular.


and then we were in akureyri! the town was tiny, but better than no town at all. we went to grab a parking clock from the bank, this town had the weirdest parking system on earth. our lunch was at rub23. i'd heard so many people said this place was expensive, but i thought it wasn't that expensive with the main fish dish (for lunch) range around 2,000-2,500 isk. and the portion of it was very generous. there weren't as much choices as for dinner, but dinner was quite a lot more expensive.


we ordered sushi pizza (kind of a must here), cod with herbs and garlic, and arctic char with sweet  mango chill rub. we all liked the last one the most, maybe because it tasted a bit asian. the sweet was well balanced with salty taste, while with cod dish, it was only salty and nothing else. sushi pizza was something different, and it tasted great as well, though bit too expensive i must say.

after the delicious and rewarding meal (it's been times ago since we last had a proper meal), we strolled around akureyri. there wasn't much to see, but there were some nice cafes to sit down and just relax a little. we chose kaffi go te in the big book shop on the corner. the atmosphere was nice and friendly. i would like to try blab kannan cafe as well, just didn't get a chance to.

we ran out of things to do, so we went to our guesthouse for a nap and then return early in the evening for a pint of kaldi beer at brugghusbarinn near the famous church. it seemed to be the only place that had kaldi on taps. if we had more time, we would visit its brewery, 20 minutes north of akureyri. they offered a tour inside the brewery as well. and the best was quite good!


our accommodation, skjaldarvik guesthouse, was super lovely. the decoration won my heart over with all the cute handmade stuff, especially the common area with lots of books. the staffs were very friendly and i felt like home when we stayed there, except for the fact that they only have share-bathroom type of rooms! but still, i loved it. they had hot tub and this amazing breakfast with everything you could imagine. homemade bread, cake and jam, skyr, brie, fruits and all those other stuff a breakfast should have. the bread was not as good as halo's, but other than that, it was my favourite breakfast ever.

i would like to own a cozy guesthouse like this too.

it was sad that our time at jokulsarlon, hali and the amazing breakfast was about to over.


we left quite early in the morning, right after breakfast, and hofn was only around 70 kilometres away from jokulsarlon. so our plan to have lobster for lunch at hofn didn't work out. but we did stop by and take a look around this little fishing town. i really liked how this little town was surrounded by both mountains and sea. but i was glad we didn't stay a night in hofn, because except for lobster eating, i didn't think we would find anything else to do.


plus, our destination that day was amazing.

we drove alone the east coast. on our left was the mountains and on our right was the ocean. it was a pretty fascinating drive.


until we started to get lost.

road number 1, or the ring road, was supposed to be the main road of iceland. so when the navigator told us to enter road number 96 when we got to the town called breiddalsvik, we were skeptical. because that secondary road was 50 kilometres longer, why not take the main road? also, we were hungry and would like to get to egilsstadir as soon as possible.

we decided to turn and continue on the ring road, which headed towards the inland. at first, it seemed fine and the surrounding was beautiful. the navigator kept telling us to 'make a u-turn' but we ignored the voice and laughed at it…you stupid navigator!

after 30 kilometres on the unpaved road (with no other cars to be seen) came the snowy mountain we had to drive over. a narrow, gravel road with a metre tall snow wall on each side, i couldn't believe we were on the main road of this island.

for a moment, we wanted to make a u-turn and give the navigator an honest apology. but that meant 80 kilometres more to drive. and out stomachs were growling. fortunate, a car was coming from the opposite direction. so i asked the driver and he said the road wasn't that scary, and once we were over the mountain, we would hit a paved road again.


so we believed him and became a bit more relax to the point that we were able to enjoy the scenery. looking down to the white valley from up high, the sight took my breath away.

it was about ten kilometres (which felt like an hour drive) and the road was better. we saw a lot of frozen lake on our way, but there were much more to come.


after a quick meal and grocery shopping in egilsstadir, we continued on the scenic route, route 93, to seydisfjordur. this tiny town and the scenic route are highly recommended by lonely planet. and even when all we could see was snow on the mountains, it was beautiful.


about 5 kilometres before we arrived at our destination, there was this amazing gufufoss on the right side of the road. i didn't know if it was so stunning for us because it was the first snowy fall we had ever seen.we spent quite some times there photographing before we moved on. (quite some times for us is about an hour or so…)

out hotel tonight, hotel aldan, was very lovely vintage style hotel. (and was also the most expensive one during our stay) i fought an urge not to scream out loud with delight when i saw my bed, an alcove bed, my dream bed.


just wow. i loved it.


our room smelled like paint and the breakfast wasn't that great, but that was alright. i had a great night on my dreamy bed. and the town was absolutely charming, especially with snow.

we had some pizzas at bistro skaftfell. pizzas seemed to be the only thing on the menu when we visited. probably because it was in winter? but that had wholewheat crust pizza which was quite cool. and the atmosphere in the place was very friendly. on the second floor of the bistro was an art centre. the exhibition they showed wasn't quite understandable for me. they were like art-art works, very abstract.


cafe lara, known for its local beer, was closed for renovation. we strolled around town for a while until it got colder and i started to freeze.


really gorgeous little town, but during this time of the year, one night was enough.

*NOTE* look for reindeers while driving in the east/northeast area! unfortunately, we didn't see any. but the map said they were normally in this part of the country

to be very honest, not only that jokulsarlon was the peak of our trip, hali was as well.

it was the closest accommodation to jokulsarlon(13.8 km. away to the east), but they don't just make money out of the location. hali offered 3 kinds of accommodation; hotel, guesthouse and apartment. the service was wonderful. we booked a room with shared bathroom, but when we arrived, they said the just renovated that building and it still smelled of paint, so we were upgraded to an ensuite room in the hotel building. (that was quite impressive since later on, we stayed at some places which had a strong smell of newly painted wall)  the room was spacious and the facilities were just perfect. there were extra shared bathrooms and showers even though every room in that building were ensuite.

they also offered a northern light wake up call service, free of charge. but we weren't lucky enough to see any.

on our second stay (one week later), the hotel was probably fully booked. this time, they didn't upgraded us to an ensuite room, but they did ensure us that our room wouldn't smell of paint. and it didn't. though the building (this was the guesthouse part) was a but older and the facilities were as great. the room was also smaller. but of course, that's why it was cheaper.

kitchens in both building was well equipped with milk for coffee and various sorts of tea (more in the hotel building, there was even a instant coffee machine there) shared bathroom was new and convenience. they would also do your laundry for 1,000 isk a batch if you ask them to.

the best part of hali, however, was this:


breakfast!!!!!! i could write a page long on how tasty hali's breakfast was and how i deliberately eat breakfast from seven thirty to ten. the best of the best was the bread. 3-4 different kinds of warm, freshly-baked homemade bread were there for me, a bread lover, to indulge in the crispy crust and soft, warm inside. people at hali could bake perfect bread. other than that they had everything a buffet breakfast should have, including cake and homemade waffles.

writing this absolutely makes me miss the place so much. and i would definitely visit hali again.

we all agreed that this part of the country was our favourite, especially my dad. for him, it was divine. he even decided, at the end of our trip, to drive around half of the island just to visit jokulsarlon again before we flew home.

yeah, for him it was that great.

but well, for me, too.

we left vik quite early in the morning, so our plan to have lunch at kirkjubaejarklaustur was impossible. but it would be impossible anyway even if we have left later, because most of the restaurants were closed. the choices were a fast food restaurant at n1 or supermarket.

so we bought some bread, veggie and ham to make sandwich for lunch.

as we drove closure and closure to the enormous skaftafell-vatnajokull national park, more and more of white mountains appeared, and eventually this gigantic glacier became visible on the left side of the road.


it war really huge, massive, gigantic, humongous, enormous and every other synonyms available in english language. and we went whoa and wow we slowly approached skaftafell visitor centre.

just the sight of this glacier from the road was fantastic enough to take my breath away.

we decided to hike to svartifoss. it was kind of a must and it was only 1.8 km. loop trail, which was totally worth it. the walk was easy, climbing up and down for a while. and the waterfall was absolutely impressive. even though i imagined it would look even better in spring and summer when everything would be green and mossy.


from svartifoss, you can decide whether to walk 200 m. more on a loop to a viewpoint or going back on the same trail. but let me tell you, the viewpoint was so breathtakingly stunning. the range of white mountains was literally right in front of you. it was like 200 degrees of mountain view. not 360 degrees, i know, but still, it was magnificent.

i often ran out of adjectives to describe how wonderful things were, especially during these few days we explored the south of vatnajokull national park.


back to the main road, we turned on a small gravel road called svinafellsjokulsvegur, and it was a great turn we made. about midway into the glacier, there was a great view of the other glacier on the left with a lava field as a foreground.


at the end of this unpaved road, there was a few-metre-long trail which gave us an access very close to the glacier. i went to new zealand twice, but the sight of icelandic glaciers made me forget what new zealand had to offer (in terms of glacier, of course) first, the size of it completely blew my mind away. second, how near we could get to the glacier without local guide was just amazing.


back on the ring road, we continued towards jokulsarlon. but…we found a hidden gem, a better sarlon that jokulsarlon. it was fjallsarlon, situated about a kilometre off the ring road and around 10 kilometres on the west of jokulsarlon. actually, there were two ways you can access this lake. one was that road i mentioned, and unpaved road called fjallsarlonvegur. the other, which we found out later, was 1.8 kilometres west of fjallsarlonvegur. this road took us closure to the glacier and we could actually walk really close to the glacier (if we had time, unfortunately) i wasn't sure if there would be a lot of icebergs in this lake in summer, but when we were there the amount of ice was just perfect, and unlike jokulsarlon, the glacier was really close to us. my favourite glacier lagoon in this trip!


but jokulsarlon was not bad. it was really, really huge and filled with loads of icebergs. we could easily step on one of the icebergs when we walked down on tiny beaches.  made a mental note that we should not forget binoculars no matter where we go, because on the left side of the bridge, we saw so many seals in the lagoon. it would be just perfect to have binoculars and be able to see those little faces playing cheerfully in the water.


and of course we couldn't miss the black sand beach in jokulsarlon. another nature wonder which just proved my old  belief wrong. who said sea, icebergs, beach and snow don't fit together? it looked perfectly normal here.


the first time we were there, we were fascinated by how many pieces of icebergs were on the black beach. we spent hours there during dusk and dawn, which was the best time to photograph icebergs on the beach. and we were very lucky by the fact that every day during our stay, it was always low tide during dusk and dawn (and that made it a whole lot easier to photography as we didn't have to run from the waves that often)

one week later on our second visit, however, we were stunned by how much ice and snow had melted away. like more that half of icebergs in the lagoon was gone, and only 30% was left on the beach. it reminded me again that global warming really existed. (yes, after a whole week of snow, snow and snow, i needed a reminder that global warming existed)
the only thing i regretted not doing (or not having a chance to do) was the crystal cave tour. because we were there in april which was not the season to visit these caves (as it might melt and collapse when we were inside…) they only do the tour from november to march.

and the only option i have right now is to go back there again.

vik made me felt like the real adventure was about to begin.

and it did.

we drove down the south on a sunny day, a day which would put locals' and other travellers' smiles on their faces. but that was not the case for my dad, he needed a cloudy day to photograph waterfalls.

and there would be two famous and breathtakingly beautiful waterfalls on our way to vik.

those were seljalandsfoss and skogarfoss. foss is an icelandic word for fall, obviously.


we could see seljalandsfoss since we were still driving on the ring road, a few kilometres before we actually get there. it was during the end of winter so ice and snow melted and the amount of water falling from the cliff was significant. plus the wind that blew constantly which prevented us from walking behind the waterfall.

and that was the special thing about this fall, to walk behind it and look at it from the different view.


i was kinda sad (and wet) but we did have a chance to visit this place again a week later. and i was startled by how much snow had covered the fall during only a week. but even with snow. there was less water and wind so i got to walk behind the waterfall and wasn't that soaked with water. though i hadto admit that even with snow, seljalandsfoss seemed to look the best when its surroundings being green, which would be during spring and summer.


skogarfoss was, during april (and in my opinion), more spectacular than seljalandsfoss. rainbow will be almost always visible in the afternoon when the sun shines. and that was pretty amazing. especially when you walk right to the from of the fall and you would see the rainbow so close to you, with both of its ends. even though rainbow actually has no end, it's a ring.


there was a way you can climb the hill to the top of the waterfall. i did climbed up (because my dad spent way too long photographing the fall and i got bored) i was exhausted by the time i reached the top. it was extremely windy and my nostrils were in pain from breathing in such cold air.


actually, i could continue walking along the stream, but i chose not to. instead, i walked back down. and even when i felt like there was nothing worth the climb up there, at least i felt good that did not only eat but exercise to burn the calorie as well.


in vik, there were several sights you should not miss (and we missed, unfortunately. which we found out later when we didn't have time and the weather wasn't on our side.) dyrholaey could be accessed by  road no. 218, no further trekking was necessary. it was this huge rock/cliff with a hole—'door'—which made it look like an arch. it was probably the most famous sight of the area.


you could take a walk on reynisfjara, the black beach which faced one side of the reynisfjall mountain. from the beach, reynisdrangar, stacks of rock in the middle of the sea, was also visible. but the better place to look at them would be from the other side of the mountain (which was like 2 km. walk) or a trail which started at N1 gas station.


we missed a lot in vik even though we stayed there for two nights. the weather aaas terrible on our only full day. it started to snow since we woke up. later on, snow turned to rain and rain turned to frozen rain with strong wind, which was the worse part. within only a few hours, snow was everywhere. on the mountain, on the ring road, on our car, everywhere. on the other hand, it was amazing for us to see snow all over a seaside town. i had never imagined that it could possibly snow next to the beach. all we could do was staying in the car, drove around a little and took some photos from inside the car with our windows down. or the other choice was to go back to out hotel, welcome hotel in vik.

it was in the same building with hotel lundi and  it was also the worst stay we had in iceland. don't get me wrong, it wasn't that bad but it wasn't good enough (and maybe that meant the same thing) our room was okay, the service was alright but there was a big, (quite) old man, and he was pretty weird and scary.  he was probably the chief or something, and he was the only man i saw there. his service for us was nice but in a little bit creepy/scary way. i don't know how to put this but my opinion (that he scared us off) was confirmed by two fellow german guests who wrote on the guest book.

also, the breakfast was not appealing at all. there were only toast and crackers, ham, cheese, veggie, fruit and crappy cake from supermarket (which was inedible) and there were no eggs!

the bottom line is, i would not stay there again.


and a tip would be, look for an accommodation with a kitchen. when we were there, there wasn't really a great variety of places we could dine out, but there was a decent supermarket and alcohol shop. bistro strodin (which so many people said was good) was closed during low season. we had lunch twice at halldorskaffi (because we had no choice) the food was average but the prices were unreasonable, especial fish dishes which weren't that good and were like 1,200 isk more expensive than the fish company in reykjavik.

so two tips for vik, don't miss those three places and look for an accommodation with kitchen.